Last night, Presselite sent us an email announcing every 12-year-old boy’s dream: A 99-cent iPhone app that can see through clothes. We saw right through it. Others did not.

Last night, Presselite sent us an email announcing every 12-year-old boy’s dream: A 99-cent iPhone app that can see through clothes. Naturally, we thought it was a joke, because 1) the iPhone doesn’t yet have the capacity to x-ray (they’re saving that for the 3G-XXX) and 2) even if it did, there’s no way Apple would approve something so perverse (at least not without offering it exclusively to the TSA as a cheap alternative to full-body airport scans). But the restofthe Internet is lauding “Nude It” it like it’s kind of real. How is this possible?

Well, for one, Presselite’s marketing campaign–albeit skeevy and deceptive–has been pretty smart. The whole app was inspired by a YouTube video that went viral last month, in which a bunch of twentysomethings use an imaginary iPhone app (also called “Nude It”) to see through each other’s clothes. The video was an elaborate spoof, obviously, but now that there’s an actual “Nude It” iPhone app, it comes across as a legitimate demo. Presselite even linked to it in the press release they sent us, as proof that this app was “amazing.”

Also, Presselite tells us exactly what we want to hear, legitimacy be damned. Here’s the description they sent, which is the same one that appears in iTunes (emphasis mine):

Nude It is a funny Augmented Reality application for the iPhone thatlets you see through clothes. Simply point your iPhone at a friend
(less than 6.5 ft / 2 m from you), and using Nude It scanning
technology, you will see him or her totally in the nude. Please, note
that you must clearly see your friend’s face on the screen to get good
results.

To illustrate this point, they include two carefully Photoshopped images (above).

Tack on Apple’s stamp of approval, Presselite’s relatively legitimate reputation (previously, they’ve developed iPhone games and subway map apps), and our general human willingness to buy into things that sound too good to be true–especially if they involve nudity!–and it’s no wonder “Nude It” has made such a splash.

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Alas, it’s all for naught. We bought and tested the app in the name of truth and justice, and we can exclusively reveal that it’s a crock of sh*t. Here’s how the description should read: “Simply point your iPhone at a friend or random Internet photo, and using basic AR
technology, we’ll superimpose a stock image of a chiseled body over his or her torso.” Case in point: